Wow that's a huge pitcher.  Is it a sarracenia? 

Michael can you give us a pic of your picture plant?

Excellent looking Sundews.  You might add that the poor soil is a necessity and water with no more than 50 TDS is required to keep these babies alive.  I have had mine for about 4 years, but I almost lost them last year as a dummy I left them in the greenhouse all winter and they never went dorment.  Another requirement otherwise after two years they tend to burn themselves out.  You sure don't want the grow them along side your fig trees the soil would be just to rich.  I must say Octopusinc has some of the best specimens I have seen.  What extreme diversity you have with your plants.  I just never had much luck with Sundews, but my flytraps and pitcher plants grow like weeds during the summer months.  They can't wait for the ants to start trying to nest in there pots.  Its as good as meals on wheels to these guys.

after looking at greg's cephalotus, i had to get one. no idea what to do with it since i don't have gnats.. 

Show it off and hope you get some gnats to feed it. LOL

Pete, what else is in that container? Did it all come from Charles Brewer? I still haven't gotten the cephalotus but I am looking.

Mike,

It is from Charles. He packed with some live s.moss. I kept most of s.moss in a ziplock bag to grow it later, and left some on top to keep moisture around ceph.

The ceph was packed real nice, in a vacuum bag to keep moisture in.

That the Czech giant?  Feed it ants ants ants!  You can catch them and freeze them during the summer too and feed all through winter.  

See this just shows we are more than figaholics, we're plantaholics. I want a Sundew now; I do have an occasional gnat around, I try be quick to hunt them down and smush them when I see one. But it would be way more deserving to see it slowly dissolved.

The air in Colorado is really dry. Would I have to keep them in a terrarium and just put them out for part of the day to catch pests?

Also-
Do Sundews or any of the others attract fruit flies? During the fall they're lousy around here, just about every 2nd or 3rd house has an apple tree somewhere on the property dropping rotten apples. They're pretty quick to crawl into a fig with an open eye and cause it to sour also.

Sundews do attract fruit flies.  Most of their diet is from airborne insects and they have a sweet aroma.  

You would definitely need some kind of terrarium effect to keep them in colorado.  I keep y sundews at 90% humidity.  They dry up when they fall below 75%.

I see in the background of some of your pictures you have cups on little pots, are those carnivores or cuttings?
I could probably do something like that, maybe if melted a few holes in the cup like I do for cuttings the gnats and such would find their way into the sweet smelling treat.

The far left box with red cups are roses I cut around Columbus last summer that I plant to grow in the ground this spring.

On the right of the roses is a bonsai tree (chinese wisteria), the two tall clay pots with cups on them are my cephalotus, the red cups behind those are rockspray horizantals bonsai starters, the clear box is a koyoto moss I'm trying to start for the bonsai trees, the little clear cups with domes are Jolly Tiger cuttings I got from BLB cut into 2 node segments, the white ceramic bowls with cups over them are cephalotus leaf pullings I'm trying to root (and I'm failing at them), then the bog box w/ carnivores on the right of that, and the box with all my random experiments in the box right of that.  

Added these yesterday:



Pseudolithos migiurtinus.  Like the Heurnia Zebrina this shoots a flower that attracts bugs from great distance.  Now only if this cold weather will end so I can do my gardening outside! 

nope, it's not Czech Giant form. it's Typical with good color or at least that's what i asked for. per charles, 

"I sent you a nice colorful Ceph that may be a clone of the Hummer's Giant. Not sure yet as the plant is to small, but within a year you should know."

so if i don't kill it within next one year, i'll find out if it's something other than just Typical. all the new pitchers are also getting color. it might be due to not getting good light or something. in next few months, i'll do a leaf cutting to see if i can strike a back up.

well.. i'm still a fig person.. but i need something to look at while eating my figs :)

Greg, Nice Pseudolithos, I hope you don't have that one in a high humidity environment, it ill turn into a ball of mush in quick order if you do or if it gets to much water. Thery are very sensitive to moisture and of course require high light to maintain that shape. I'm thinking you are just kidding your self about growing this to attract insects, there are many other easier plants to choose, you are a closet succulent grower lol!! These plants are for serious collectors only as they come with a hefty price tag as well. So you have a taste for the odd and unusual in the plant world, welcome to the club. 

Haha Barry you're right, I was unaware of their flowers entirely actually until after I had purchased them.  They're no where near the humidity boxes nope.  I've got them in fast draining rock substrate and will only water them after they have been bone dry for 4 days.  

Neat pictures and Neat stuff. I want  to thank you guys (and gals) for this thread. as tangential as it may be to figs. It has rekindled my appetite for these "odd and unusual" plants. Had a few some years ago, but enough neglect, and well . . .

@Greg

I just noticed that you are a 'specialist' member of
International Carnivorous Plant Society


What is the minimum requirement to grow these little beasts (e.g., humidity)?


A while way back; I bought a venus flytrap, just for fun, but it (poor thing) did not last long on me.

What is the easiest/best one for starters ... sundew?
 

George,

Sundew are really easy, so are flytraps.  Honestly none of them are 'hard'.  Like all plants it's just about doing proper research for individual varieties.  I keep all of my sundew, sarracenia, flytraps, and nephentis right now in a 90% humidity box at all times, cephalotus I keep between 60-80% humidity at all times.  I open them all once daily for air circulation.  As the sarracenia and nephentis reach maturity they will need less humidity.  It seems like what kills most folks' first flytraps is actually tap water rather than rot or humidity.  Anything over 20ppm will kill carnivorous plants in short order.

Mike and Greg,
So finally got a photo.2 are of super growing pitcher. The pitchers are half redish and half green. I have not been watering much as you can see.
The other plant is a ????? Either of you guys or anyone else have any idea?
thx

Michael, thanks for sharing. That is a nice looking picture plant. No, I do not know what the first pic is. I copied to my PC
so I could zoom in on it but I still can place it. Maybe someone else will ID it.

Mike 
thx but that dang pitcher plant grows like a weed. I either need to repot in bigger pot and just let it go nuts or radically trim it again - which I seem to have to do constantly. Or open the window and give it a heave. I guess those darn Chinese Stinkbugs and Asian Ladybird beetles along with a wasp or two are a pretty good diet.

Greg, in your opinion, are those fly traps that they sell at Lowe's worth a try or would you suggest getting them from another source? I had one years ago but like others have said, they didn't last long. I'd like to give it a try again.

Could be your flytraps just went dormant. All top growth dies back, then in spring they pop out again. Hardy around here.

Just got my 3 new gnat  killers, boy are they small